Kukla's Korner Hockey

A lot of events needed to happen between June 22, 2012, and Friday for Teuvo Teravainen to be on the verge of making his NHL debut for the Chicago Blackhawks.

First, the Blackhawks needed Teravainen to fall to No. 18 in the first round of the 2012 draft. He was expected by many to go in the top 10. But after nine teams ahead of the Blackhawks addressed defenseman needs, Teravainen was still on the board.

"We weren't targeting him because we had him as one of the top players in the draft," Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said Friday. "We certainly liked him. We never thought he would slide to us that far. As the draft went on and on, that was the year all the defensemen were taken one after another after another. So we started looking at one another when it got to 13 or 14.

"We said, Wow, he might be there. And we talked to our scouts, and they said: 'No question. If he's there, we've got to take him. He's such a talented player.' For whatever reason, that happens sometimes. We're fortunate. We're not going to complain about the fact he slid down to us."